Hey everyone! Before I get started on my first entry, I would like to introduce a little about myself. I am a T1D and was diagnosed January 2015. My dad is also diabetic, so when I was diagnosed…I basically already knew what this disease entailed. I was pretty sick for a whole year before I was diagnosed, but I just concluded that the fatique was from work+college and I concluded the frequent peeing for just drinking a ton of water. But the two months before I was diagnosed was pretty rough and I was starting to think something was wrong. I kept getting infections, I was constantly at the doctors. Anyways, the last week I could hardly breath without running out of breath. I finally looked up on how to count a resting heart rate and mine was 150 or higher with just sitting or barely walking. The stairs I once use to sprint up in my house, I was clinging onto the railings just to catch my breath and could barely walk. I felt a little crazy - what would be causing all of these symptoms? I was constantly napping at this moment and literally was exhausted even after a nap. Anyways, that night I told my parents I had felt horribly and they told me to wake them up again if I felt like I needed to go to the local ER. I fell asleep fine and then woke up around 2 AM, feeling worse than I had any other day. I was hunched over the toilet, dry heaving, and felt like I was in some serious trouble. I honestly felt like I was dying. I woke my dad up and he took me to the ER. My boyfriend had work early and I told him good-bye and that I would see him the next day. When I got to the ER and described my breathing issues, I was immediately rushed in. They hooked me up to a heart monitor and my heart was racing. I felt really drained and sickly. The doctors told me, “It’s either a heart tumor or a lung tumor”. They assumed that because of how hard it was for me to breath; so they took images of my heart, lungs, and general chest area. Then they drew a lot of my blood and I basically sat for an hour waiting for results. My doctor came into the triage and had that look of bad news written all across her face. She grabbed my hand (At the point I thought I was being told I was going to die) and then told me I was in DKA. She then explained what it meant and that I was now a T1 Diabetic. I felt immense relief (Weird, I know…but they presumed so much worse and I had plenty of knowledge about diabetes from my dad). Anyways, four days later I was released from the ICU. I left the hospital after using syringes & vials, then when I went home I got to use prefilled insulin pens. About six months later, I asked for an insulin pump. Which did not work for me, unfortunately, and now I am back on prefilled pen shots (5-10 times a day). I am also having a Diabetic Alert Dog trained for me and hopefully he/she will move in with me this year or the beginning of next. I might consider using an insulin pump again once I am not busy with college and work, that way I can focus more. But anyways, it has been really hard coping with T1 Diabetes, as expected. There are more good days than bad and it’s been a year since I have had to go to the ER for my diabetes. I cope by using online support like this, I watch YouTube vlogs about people who also struggle with chronic illness (The Frey Life: Which is Cystic Fibrosis video blogs, The Dale Tribe: T1D video blog, and Chronically Jaquie: who has many chronic illnesses), and I try to not put too much pressure on myself. T1D is definitely a constant battle 24/7, 365; but it is worth it to live.
Side note: I used a MiniMed 530G Medtronics Pump w/o sensor. Did anyone else have issues/complications? I tried two pumps with them and they did not work for me. But curious - what pumps work for you guys? Not interested in starting an insulin pump again for awhile. Honestly, my body needs consistency of treatment and a break for a few years. So when I am done with my Bachelor’s or Master’s, I will definitely consider going back because I miss having a pump minus the insane complications sometimes, lol. Like going into DKA TWICE IN TWO WEEKS, lol.